Release Date + Collection Info

Fenty Beauty is launching three brand new shades of fan favorite Killawatt Freestyle Highlighter and Killawatt Foil Freestyle Highlighter to give you a bronzy glow just in time for summer. Light up where you want, when you want with the Killawatt Freestyle Highlighter Duo now in AFTERNOON SNACK/MO’ HUNNY, or rev up your glow even more with the hyper-metallic shimmer of Killawatt Foil Freestyle Highlighter, now in PENNY4UTHOTS and GEISHA CHIC. These weightless, longwear cream-powder hybrid highlighters instantly melt into the skin and range from subtle dayglow to insanely supercharged, for all skin tones.

April 5th

Products Available

Killawatt Freestyle Highlighter Duo, $36.00 (Permanent)

Killawatt Foil Freestyle Highlighter, $36.00 (Permanent)

Editor’s note: Wish Fenty would have chosen a different name than “Geisha Chic.” Updated 3/31: Fenty Beauty has pulled the shade Geisha Chic and will be renaming it. They sent me a direct message via Instagram (and it appeared that many others who commented on social media also received similar direct messages) apologizing, letting me know that it is going to be pulled and renamed, and said “thank you so much for educating us.”

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I’m pretty excited for these to drop. I own a very selective set of products from Fenty – 2 matchsticks, 3 gloss bombs, and a concealer – but I’ve always wanted to try out the Highlighters and Killawatt Foils. I also particularly enjoy their promotional ad campaigns because it allows every possible customer to see it on someone very similar, in terms of skin tone, to themselves. Relatable.

So now Fenty is basically a highlighting brand? I love my Lighting Dust Killawatt but I’m disappointed that this is the train Fenty is riding to death. I know highlighter is the typical Summer release but what about bronzer? Do they even have that? So surprising they won’t come out w a less drying foundation or a decent eyeshadow palette. For such an inclusive brand, sorry not sorry, I find them so lacking and I pay less and less attention to what they release. Did not buy a single Fenty product last year. Not sure at this point if that will change in 2019!

It’s a brand I want to love, but do not own much in my stash. The foundation is too drying for my mature skin, but due to the vast number of shades, I can use one for tweaking my other foundations, but that’s the extent of it. I understand the place you are coming from because the rest of the collection does not appeal to me either. It’s not political. I’m thrilled and respect the inclusiveness.

Others have already mentioned the bronzers, but I wanted to come in and say that for those of us who actually strive for a non-sun-touched look, bronzers are useless — bring on the highlighters! So versatile! Bronzers have no place in my “toolbox” (except the few I own that I’m using as eyeshadows, and I only own them because they came in a set), but I actually find colored highlighters a lot more useful these days than blush, and even some eyshadows. In fact, I generally let highlighters and highlighters that can stand in as blushes form the basis of my everyday looks. IMO, one-hundred highlighters for every one bronzer on the market is about the right ratio. 🙂

I don’t see a problem with that name. It’s surprisingly an accurate reference to the brick red makeup used by geisha! I’m so pleased to see the reference that’s both accurate and an homage. Sort of shocking even!

Being Asian, I don’t know what their intentions were while naming it that way. Putting it this way, I am closer to looking like a Japanese than she is. Would I dare to represent their culture? No! Does she have a team researching what the actual history behind that aesthetic? Doubt it. Has Fenty made any official statement or ad claiming they got “inspired” by the culture hence the creation of this shade? If it were paying homage and putting it next to ‘thot’ and such doesn’t make their intention clear. Sorry but this is a big miss. Living in the US for a while it is really tiring to me that fetishizing Asian culture seems to be acceptable.

People have — for the whole of human history — taken inspiration from other cultures; I think it’s too simplistically one-dimensional to claim that any reference to another culture is automatically dismissive or appropriation, or that you have to prove you have a doctorate degree in studies of that other culture to justify using an element of it that inspires you. Japan has borrowed Rockabilly, cowboy, grunge, and any number of other American cultural movements to their own satisfaction, and I don’t see why anyone would begrudge them that.

I’m sorry if people who superficially appreciate Geisha culture for its aesthetics don’t “get it,” but humans are irrepressible and curious seekers of things that inspire or affect them. We’re never going to “avert our eyes” when meeting elements of another culture, and are highly unlikely (with the exception of a select few) to immerse ourselves in a lifelong study of a culture that we’ve been inspired by in some way. But we’re still affected, and we like to express that affect; that’s just the human way — please take it for what it is.

Maybe you are right. Perhaps I am too thin skinned to take it in. But I am not the only one to feel that way. In fact if you go to Fenty Instagram they already removed the name out of the caption. If Fenty really got inspired by the trend then they could also give some explanation to the questions they received in the comments, you know? I am waiting for that. I like Rihanna and really admire her philanthropy works, and I truly hope she could at least do something about this.

Let me break it down: Penney 4(For) U(You) Thots(that ho(whore) over there). Um, h3ll NO! And “Geisha Chic”, too? These names are appalling. I won’t be getting these. I do realize that Fenty goes right to the edge with being “edgy” and tries to keep a certain vibe. I’m fine with that. But these two names in particular, are in very unsavory taste. U Thots? Is this what she sees us her fans and consumers as?

Angelicmariposa, yeah, I’m no fan of drug references being used by makeup brands as shade names, either. Yet, I do own a ton of UD, some of which do have very questionable names. However, this doesn’t mean that I condone UD doing this.

I honesty don’t get how you arrived at your breakdown from what is, to my eye, a modern text-speak form of “Penny For Your Thoughts.” Maybe I’m hopelessly old-fashioned and out-of-touch, but that name seems as harmless as it gets. And I don’t see anything about this release that throws shade on the word (or idea) of Geisha. Someone else mentioned prostitution related to the word Geisha — where are people getting this from? Can we all just please stop “reading into” and lashing out?

thots is slang for “those ho over there” as nancy said. she didn’t make it up herself and she’s not “reading into” anything, that’s just the usage of thot. as for geisha and prostitution, during ww2 lotta prostitutes called themselves geisha when selling to soldiers so that’s why americans tend to think (wrongly) that geisha are prostitutes.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Thot No, I didn’t make this up or break it down from my own imagination or trying to “read” bad motives into her naming of this. I happen to live in a major urban area, and have known what this acronym means for ages, unfortunately.

Distasteful name aside, I like Geisha Chic and will probably get it. My only complaint with these highlighers has been that the pans are not deep and the product seems to go pretty fast. But I like how the darker highlighters can be used as blush for me.

Well, these look great – I really admire how they’ve used representative models to show how universal these shades are AND they haven’t “perfected” them by erasing beauty marks/moles and scars. I’m not halfway convinced that the blonde is not somehow a clone of Claudia Schiffer though…

I know some people will be offended by some of the names but why is Hustler okay and Geisha not? They both have sex/performance/money connotations which I know most folks will view negatively but lets face it, there are a not insignificant number of women involved in sex work and they deserve recognition, respect and dignity same as everybody else, regardless of why they do what they do. I’m not saying we should all be fine with lipsticks called Holla4A$ or whatever but being outright dismissive of labels like these it isn’t going to change the way these women are viewed in society. Or maybe multi-millionaires shouldn’t exploit such labels to make even more $$$, I don’t know…

Geisha are not associated with sex in Japan, although “oiran” (courtesans) are. Certainly men hundresds of years ago found geisha attractive and there may have been illicit relationships, but “geisha” just means a person who sings, dances, and plays drinking games. The connotation of geisha with sex work came from white colonists racist depictions of Japanese, and prostitutes that American soldiers interacted with in the post world war II period. Geisha sometimes were hired to accompany oiran at parties.

Hence my inclusion of the word performance 🙂 I admit my phrasing was not as precise as it should be! And I included a pretty broad general statements afterwards, so I can totally see your point and I stand corrected. Hustler doesn’t always mean sex work either, for that matter. Thank you for sharing your knowledge of Japanese culture, I appreciate the clarification.

I also think the name “Geisha Chic” is odd; aside from the Orientalism/Asian fetishism, given the misconception that geisha are prostitutes, it’s ripe to be interpreted as glorifying sex work, which is a pretty divisive topic…

Really love the shade “Geisha Chic,” and if the color is actually accurate to geisha makeup, as Kira said, then I’m glad they are paying homage to Japanese culture, albeit in an odd way. It’s a little orientalizing, but given that the whole collection isn’t themed around it, it really seems more respectful than not.

What is Fenty’s association with Marc Jacobs?i recently got a cs email from MJ and it was signed Fenty Beauty under the persons name.

Sexual and Ethic names are a turn off. I’m really not a fan of Fenty and it would take a lot for me to buy from the brand. I have the lip gloss.. to me just Ok. The foundation I feel would be nice for oily skin but I never reach for it. I have one matchstick. Color is nice but it’s dry and a bit finicky to use.

I’m Japanese, born and raised in Japan, and gladly share my culture with people from overseas. When a lot of people practice it, it would be called culture. Doesn’t matter where they are from. Japan depends on tourism. They are one of the major reasons why many tourists come to Japan. Geisha people are skilled artists, and I really respect them. But I want you to know this: The word Geisha in English has a very different connotation, and used for sexual fantasies. It’s not really used for the actual Geisha people. Many of East and South East Asian women have sexually harassed based on the fetishized one. I’ve even called geisha from total strangers and some male acquaintances for several times, and it’s pretty creepy. The connection allows some stupid people to objectify us. Some halloween costumes, short kimono with ugly patterns and the chest wide open, would explain very well. If the word was used correctly, nobody would really complain. Plus, Geisha people are working under harsh conditions and paid less unless the Geisha person is quite popular. Most of them start training at the age of fifteen to sixteen. They can’t go high school. Too much sexual harassment and exploitation, too. When the government made it illegal, there were seven to eight years old children. During Edo era, a lot of girls were sold and forced to do prostitution. Many of them ended up either being homeless or dying for syphilis. So nothing is really sexy or fancy about it. Whoever named the highlighter didn’t know these two things I mentioned, I think. When I lived in Japan, I didn’t really care about these kinds of issues, but I lea rned why Asian communities in the US are sensitive to the use of the word through the firsthand experience of my own. I truly appreciate their quick response and respect for Asian people.

I just wanted to say thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and contributing so thoughtfully to the comments here! I found your comment particularly insightful, especially as you shared some historical context but also regional and global perspective.

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